India fails to protect its U-5 kids

New Delhi: India accounts for the second highest death rate of children under 5 years due to environmental risks - mainly pollution and poor sanitation - in the WHO south east Asia region which includes Bangladesh, Indonesia and Bhutan. In fact, India fares far worse than China and is among the top 35 countries in the world with highest death rate among under-5 years children attributable to unhealthy environment.

While India recorded 248.14 deaths among children under-5 years of age per lakh people, Myanmar - also part of the WHO's south east Asia region - reported over 297 deaths per lakh annually, new assessments by the UN agency shows.

Globally, more than 1 in 4 deaths of children under 5 years of age are attributable to unhealthy environments. Every year, environmental risks - such as indoor and outdoor air pollution, second-hand smoke, unsafe water, lack of sanitation, and inadequate hygiene - take the lives of 1.7 million children under 5 years, claim two new WHO reports.

Highlighting the need for improved sanitation in India to save children, the report said 44% of India's population defecate and urinate in open spaces, leading to greater risk of infectious diseases like diarrhoea and acute respiratory infection along with malnutrition. Lack of menstrual hygiene is also seen as a major cause of infection among young girls and mothers.

"National behaviour change handwashing programmes in India and China would produce large economic gains from reduced diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections such as a 92-fold return to investment in India and a 35-fold return to investment in China," one of the reports said.

The report also pointed at health risks from polluted drinking water, mainly presence of arsenic, which occurs naturally in ground water and causes serious risks to children's health.

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